The White House's First Poetry Jam

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Tonight, the Obamas hosted a poetry jam at the White House. It was a small event, but carries a lot of weight considering the unprecedentedly diverse group of artists and performers. The event included Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Jewish and African American writers.

“We’re here to celebrate the power of words and music to help us appreciate beauty and also to understand pain,’’ the president told the crowd.

Mayda del Valle, a 30-year-old poet from Chicago who performed, told the New York Times:

“To be able to go in the White House and to represent my grandmother and my ancestors, it really means a lot. It’s a generation of women that don’t often get heard, you know, these old Puerto Rican women that no one ever really thinks about. To be able to use my voice to represent them on this kind of platform is really powerful.”

Another favorite quote from the article: Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary (and fellow Wellesley alum, I might ad):

“Our goal really is to bring the house alive,’’ said Rogers. “We’re all American, but all of us come from different backgrounds. We want to expose Americans to other Americans that are doing brilliant work.’’

So simple, but so refreshing.